Ireland went out of the 12th World Bridge Teams Olympiad in Istanbul yesterday after being decisively beaten by Netherlands in the quarter-final, 296-177.
Following a poor second 16-board set, the Irish never got back on terms with their Dutch opponents and although the next three sets were even, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Nick FitzGibbon and Adam Mesbur faced a virtually impossible task at the start of the final set. Taking the only option open to them of going for every point on every deal, they eventually fell further behind.
In the final tally Ireland is ranked sixth of the 72 participating countries, the best performance ever by an Irish team in a world championship.
In one of the other quarter-final matches, Pakistan, trailing 120-209 to Italy, conceded the match and did not play the last set, a gesture not appreciated by the other semi-finalists as it gives the Italians almost a full day's rest before the next round. China defeated Japan 216-95 and Russia just got home ahead of Hungary, 206-204. Semi-final draw: Netherlands v China; Russia v Italy.
In the women's championship, three of the quarter-final matches ended in decisive wins. China beat Sweden 169-136, Russia scored a surprise victory over Netherlands 168-119 and USA defeated Poland 218-128.
In the fourth match, France led England 81-40 after three sets. Then a huge score by the English in set four saw them go into a 12-point lead as they started the last 16 boards. The final result was in doubt until the last of the 80 deals, but England eventually held on to win 129-122. Semi-finals: China v USA Russia v England. The championships continue until Saturday.